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Walkers
'Information' Zombies, mostly referred to in-universe as Walkers, roamers, lurkers, biters and infected, are an antagonistic force that serve as the primary catalyst for the events within Fear The Walking Dead universe. They serve as universal antagonists. Zombies or Walkers within Fear The Walking Dead universe are Robert Kirkman's version of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead zombies. Zombies are relatively weak and unintelligent as individuals, but are dangerous in large numbers and in tight spaces. They are the main antagonists within the post-apocalyptic world of The Walking Dead. The majority of known humanity has been wiped out by zombies, which have come to outnumber humans 5,000 to 1. They are only truly killed by destroying the brain, a common theme in many zombie variations. A severed head will remain animated and aggressive until the brain is destroyed or eventually disintegrates from decomposition. Fire has little effect on zombies, other than possibly angering them further, and normally lethal things such as acid or electricity also do little to impede them. They can be paralyzed if their spinal cords are severed, though this does not kill them, even if their heads are severed from the bodies. 'Herd' As described by Eugene Porter in the comic book, a herd is when a group of Walkers acts with a mob mentality. One zombie might brush his hand on a door knob, and another will see this and mistake it as an attempt to get in. Then he will beat on the door to get in, and the first zombie will see this and try to get in. This will spark a chain reaction. 'Physiology' In the show, it has been demonstrated that zombies don't require sustenance by eating, but have a strong desire to do so. This is despite the fact that they have no digestive or circulatory activity which makes them unable to digest whatever flesh they consume. Milton Mamet once stated that zombies do starve, but "slower" than humans. 'Pathogen' Everyone in The Walking Dead universe somehow contracted the pathogen that, for reasons and through means unknown, brings the dead back to "life." It is unknown how the disease is spread, though its apparently total infection rate worldwide suggests it is either water-borne, air-borne, or both. The exact taxonomy of the pathogen is unknown. The pathogen itself does not kill its hosts, but it seems to weaken their immune systems considerably, to the point where even minor illnesses are far more likely to be fatal than normal to humans. 'Reanimation' The dead corpse of anyone that dies for any reason will reanimate as a zombie, unless the brain of the individual is badly damaged or destroyed or the person was dead prior to the outbreak. When a person dies, the infection they carry reactivates critical areas of the brain that support necessary vital systems, resulting in reanimation. Because only a portion of the brain is reactivated, the reanimated person retains only a physical resemblance to their former self. The first cases of infection progressed through a state of fever, aches, and internal bleeding, and this illness ultimately was fatal. As seen on the MRI of Candace Jenner, the pathogen spreads into the brain like meningitis. It infects synapses, mostly concentrating on those in the brain stem. It eventually causes the adrenal glands to hemorrhage and the brain to shutdown, all brain activity would cease, followed by the major organs and the body would be clinically dead: no measurable brain activity, no reflexes, and no respiration or pulse. A variable time later, the pathogen, through some means, would revive synapses it infected and reactivate the brainstem and other parts of the cerebrum and cerebellum of the dead body. 'Notable Walkers' 'Trivia' *In the TV Series, walkers are shown mainly in "Guts" and "Bloodletting" to run at a very light jogger's pace, despite the fact that Kirkman has stated in the past that all zombies run at the same pace as those seen in the Romero films. *It is possible that the blood of a zombie being consumed directly or indirectly does not affect a human in any way. This is shown several times throughout the series. **In the season 5 finale of the show, Rick has to push his hands through a walker's throat, causing it to bleed out all over Rick's face. If one looks closely, one can see Rick appearing to swallow/consume the blood. **Another instance is in season 6, episode 3, when Rick comes across two walkers, one of which has a knife stuck in the shoulder. He takes that same knife and accidentally cuts himself with it with the walker's blood visible on it. To this day, Rick hasn't shown any signs of an infection. **More evidence comes from Fear The Walking Dead. During the midseason premiere of season 2, Nick watches from an abandoned bus as two dogs that recently attacked him get devoured by a swarm of walkers. After the herd slowly moves on, a very hungry and thirsty Nick crawls up to the dogs' mangled corpses and takes a chunk of the meat and proceeds to bite it. He never actually swallows it but the fact that the walkers were chewing on the flesh of the dogs and Nick not getting infected may indicate that consumption has no effect. *In season 1 of the TV series, the walkers' eyes were generally gray or yellow with a red limbal ring, but in the season 2 webisodes, "Cold Storage" and the later episodes of the TV Series, their eyes are generally gold. Older and more decayed walkers, however, have mostly or completely faded irises, leaving only dark pupils. *According to Robert Kirkman in episode 2 of Talking Dead, in the world of The Walking Dead, the works of George A. Romero were never made, and thus zombies do not appear in fiction. *In the Webisodes, it is rumored that terrorists caused the "infection." This is most likely not true, as Kirkman himself never intended to explain the source of the outbreak and thus is just what is a rumor. *In the FtWD podcast ''Fear the Walking Dead: Radio Waves ''a conspiracy theorist claims to have found proof that the infection was caused by the government as a means of population control. How reliable this is is unknown, *Walkers are some of the many amputees in The Walking Dead. For other victims, see *Scott Gimple believes the walkers' decaying vision attracts them to fire. Fire represents two of the only things walker can still see: light and movement. *In "Guts", a walker is seen displaying intelligence by using a rock to break the glass of a department store in which a group is hiding. Zombies are also seen climbing fences. The writers of the AMC series say that they agreed on making the zombies of the first season "smart," but for every season since, it has been accepted that zombies are unintelligent beings. Category:Walkers Category:Zombified Category:Uncredited